Poser, follower, a charlatan of sorts. One who copies or immitates all or most of the aspects dealing with their idol. They may wish to have certain clothing, skills, vocabulary, etc., of their idols instead of their own. Most likely a wannabe is lacking in self confidence and is looking for guidance.

The wannabe frequently quoted popular phrases from his favorite rock star.

(A.) Someone who wants to be something else and fit in a crowd, someone who tries to act like someone they want to be even though it's obvious that they're just a stupid wannabe.

Skater wannabes dress like skaters and buy skateboards even though when they try to skate they end up falling on their arse after about 3 seconds.
Gangster wannabes act tough and hard, but when in a dangerous situation they piss themselves and run home.

'wannabe', is a slang version of the actual english equivilant - 'want to be'. there are several ways in which the term can be expressed: in example a) someone who wants to be someone else, they may aspire to the person in question's fashion sense (general appearance), ideas, attitude or music. whereas in b) the noun form of wannabe is infact an insult. it is very likely that you would see this in practice on any of the following, an up and coming popstar, a goth, a chav/townie, and sometimes even old spinsters. all of these stereotypical groupings of people will certainly have wannabes among them. a common one i find in everyday life is that of a wannabe goth. these are people who attempt to dress all in black and wear long matrix like jackets with excessive eyeliner and dye their hair a rather pitiful rainbow colour. someone who is a fully fledged and well known goth will have no worries at being called a wannabe; but small insignificant losers that shop in tammy, mk one, b-wise, and other cheap reproduction shops are a very strong form of wannabes. they will buy overly baggy trousers from tammy, teamed up with a tight black top from mk-one - possibly with already fastened on safety pins and shitty fishnet sleeves, then a un-fiied black hoody from b-wise with the logo 'bitch', 'come get me', or my favourite 'punk'. then they will go around the local market picking up inexspensive replicas of spiked chokers, skull earrings and black sweatbands with a cannabis leaf embroided on them. now, after all of this preparation, the 'wannabe goth' in this case goes out with all of their (usually girls) friends and thinks they look 'hard' or 'cool'. well they dont. and basically they will be taunted into submission by older more wiser forms of proper goths, and then eventually turn chav. chavs are often found underneath your shoe in the unfortunate case when you tread in dog shit. but that is another story.

a) i wannabe like them when i grow up mummy *the young child points to a poster of dale winton, as the parent's eyes widen with utter despair*

b) ''look at my new 'flares' from tammy, they dont fit me properly and i look really c..BANG'' *they are punched in the face by an agressive chav. what a wanna...BANG'' the chav is punched in the face by a much more pleasant goth.